Golf club structure



E. FETTER Filed Sept. 18, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet l Juily 11, 11933. E. FETTER GOLF CLUB STRUCTURE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Sept. 18, 1930 Patented July 11, 1933 UNITED STATES EDWARD FETTER, OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND GOLF CLUB STRUCTURE Application filed September 18, 1930; Serial No. 452,707.

The present invention relates to an improved form of golf club structure, particularly adaptable for producing greater strength in the same and' increasing the whip action of the club as a whole when it is in motion during the stroke or swinging operation of the player, thus producing a better and'more forceful effect on the ball and also increasing the players control and efficiency in addressing the ball in playing the game of golf.

It is well known that the average all wooden golf club lacks durable strength and is short lived, particularly when subjected to rough usage.

Various expedients have been used to prolong the active life of the all wooden club, such as inserting a flexible steel shaft into the center and for the full length ofthe club, thus giving the club additional strength and preventing the same from being easily broken. golf club shaft that is made up of a substantially thin cold rolled steel. These expedients in golf club structures all attain their ends,

'1'. e., that ofproducing'a golf club having unusual strength and long active life under conditions of rough usage. 7 Y

However, these different expedients or changes in structure, for the purpose of i11- creasing the strength and durability of the club shaft, have all beenmade at a sacrifice to the necessary and proper flexibility of the club shaft, with the ultimate result, that these shafts all lack the necessary whip'or proportionate flexibility required and which is found, asa rule, only in the more expensive all wooden clubs.

Now it is the purposeof the present invention to provide a golf club made up of' rubber with a metal reinforce having a shaftof unusual strength, together with all the necessary flexibility or Whip found inthe expensive all wooden clubs.

Still another purpose and object of the There is also the all steelor metal shaft, thus allowingfor either a substantially harder soft shaft core or center with a dif ferent density of either hard or soft rubber on or near the outer surface of the shaft proper.

It isalso an important object of the present invention to provide a golf club of the type described above made up of rubber or similar material havinga reinforce embedded therein that upon theincreased flexing of the club shaft the reinforce increases its resistance to bending in proportion thereto;

Still another important object of the in? vention is to provide a golf club having a shaft of molded flexible material with an interwoven wire mesh reinforce therein.

Another important object of the present invention is to providea golf club made up, wholly of molded rubber-orsimilar flexible material in which the shaft and foot portions of same are integral or in one piece together with an interwoven reinforce embedded therein; r I

Still another object of thepresent inven-- t1on is to produce a molded reinforced golf' club of the type described having various densities or hardnesses of'rubber throughout. the golf club as a whole for purposesof' proportlonately producing the proper strength. andrwhip in theclub at various points where these qualities are needed most In tho accompanying-drawings I have ll: lustrated a golf club made of rubber or any similar or equivalent material having an innor reinforced therein embodying the various features of my invention in their preferred form.

Inthe drawings:

Figure 1 18 a side elevation of a golf club illustrating any invention as applied thereto.

Figure 2 is an enlarged fragmentary view of: the shaft and socket portions of myimproved golfc'lub.

Figure 3 is a sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Figure 2,lillustrating the reinforce embedded within the rubber that makes up the shaft structure of my invention.

Figure 4 is an enlarged fragmentary View of the tubular shaped wire mesh reinforce embeddedwithin the flexible material that makes up the golf club structure.

Figure 5' is a similar view to Figure 1, with the exception that the club as a Whole is substantially in one piece, the foot and shaft portions being integral.

,line 101O of Figure 9, illustrating various hardnesses of rubber used therein.

Referring to the drawings by numerals,

each of which represents the same or similar parts throughout the various views, the in- .vention consists of a golf club structure 1 having a shaft 2 and a foot 3.

In the present instance, particular reference being made to Figure 1, the foot portion 3 has a socket 4 integrally mounted thereon in which the tapered portion 5 of the shaft 2 may be positioned.

It will be noted, particular reference being made to Figures 2, 3 and 4, that the ma-' terial which makes up theshaft 2 is preferably rubber as indicated by reference character 6. However, it should be understood that any material having the qualities necessary for the invention similar to rubber, may be used. Embedded Within the rubber 6 of shaft 2 for its full length is an interwoven wire mesh tubular shaped reinforce 7. As will be noted, the particular type of reinforce, see Figure 4, has the. tendency to act similarly to that of a steel bridge structure, i. e., as the stresses are increased in the form of flexing of the shaft 2, the individual strands of wire which make up the mesh, that are in a substantially straight line with the flexed portion of the shaft 2, set up a tensional stress in proportion to the bending or flexing of the shaft member, thus producing a shaft that is practically unbreakable under any conditions found in playingthe game of golf, without sacrificing any of the desirable flexing or whip qualities of the shaft.

In Figure 5, I have illustrated my invention ofgolf club structure in;a slightly modified form with a shaft 8 made preferably of rubber 9 having embedded therein a tubular shaped interwoven wire mesh reinforce 10 similar to that shown in Figure 4. The foot portion 11 of the club is integral with the shaft Sand made up of a continuation of the same material as the shaft, together with a reinforce 12 embedded therein, which is also a continuation of the reinforce 10 in the shaft 8, thus producing a one piece golf club made up of a flexible material having an inter woven wire mesh reinforce throughout its entire structure. For purposes of increasing the wearing qualities of the foot member 11 at the ballimpact point, I have provided the plate member 14 which may be held in fixed relation to the foot by means of the dovetails 15, the same being molded thereto as shown.

Figure 7 discloses another modified form of my invention of golf club structure in that the shaft 16, which .is preferably made of a flexible'material such as rubber, indicated by reference numeral 17, and has therein for purposes of increasing the strength of the same a reinforce in the form of metal rods 18, which in turn are anchored one to the other for purposes of forming the reinforce ring 19 of the rods 18 by means of the wires 20.

These wires may be fastened to the rods in various ways or by being wrapped around each rod as shown in Figure 8.

.-In Figures 9 and 10 is disclosed still another form of my invention. These figures disclose the shaft structure portion only which in turn is the same as that described in Figures'T-and 8, except that the center core 21 of rubber is made up of a substantially hard flexible rubber, whereas the outer surface 22 formed by the ring of rubber 23 may be of a different degree of hardness from that of the core 21. Of course, it is understood these different columns of rubber are molded or vulcanized into one piece, together with the reinforce. One of the many advantages of having this type of structure is that the softer rubber on' the outside of the shaft enables the player to obtain a better and firmer grip upon the club, and also enables the placing of either a hard or soft rubber where needed most along the length of the club for purposes of controlling the whip and flexibility of the same.

I have thus described specifically and in detail my improved golf club structure, the description of which is specific and in detail in order that the nature and manner of construction of the invention may be fully understood, however, the construction of the invention and the arrangement of the same may be widely varied within the scope of the invention, the terms being used in a descriptive rather than in a limiting sense, the scope of the invention being defined in the claim.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

A golf club having a head and a shaft, the shaft being composed of solid rubber and a reinforce about which the rubber is molded, the reinforce being composed of fine wire fabric consisting of two series of substantially parallel wires, the wires of the respective series being oppositely inclined to the axis of the club, the wires of oneseriesbeing arranged to intermesh with those of the other series.

Signed at Baltimore, Maryland, this 10th day of September, 1930.

' EDWARD FETTER. 

